Comic Con 2012: 'The Simpsons' Brings Carrie Fischer, Because It Can

Saturday’s Comic-Con panel for The Simpsons followed Matt Groening‘s big win of the 2012 Icon Award, so yeah…a tough act to follow. Despite that, the panel (moderated by former Executive Producer, David Mirkin) brought the sweetness. And Carrie Fishcer, for some reason. Attendees were given “Bart” headbands at the door and it was a little diffiuclt to take that as anything but forced fandom. Afterall, this is Comic Con and there are no shortage of people dressing like, well, whomever.

Cynicism, however, is difficult to maintain when most of the “Q” side of the Q&A came from the kids in the audience. It was a nice reminder that the show is in its 23rd season for a reason and that’s because, regardless of when some of us may have abandoned the show, it’s still immensely popular and iconic.

So when a little girl asked Matt Groening if he really puts his initials in every portrait he draws of Homer (a question Groening has answered many times over the course of his career), he answered by drawing Homer–as if for the first time ever–and giving the little girl the picture.

That was the panel in a nutshell. There are so few unanswered questions for Simpsons fans at this point, but it’s still nice to sit in a room with Yeardly Smith and hear her slip back and forth between Lisa Simpson and her regular voice.

Beyond that, they screened The Longest Daycare, the short film currently airing in front of prints of Ice Age: Continental Drift. Like everything else from the panel, it was a brief reminder of everything we love (or loved) about the show, taking swipes at our childcare system while providing a fun adventure for Maggie.

Oh yeah, and then Carrie Fischer randomly dropped in on the panel after an introduction by David Mirkin. The joke didn’t play as well as it should have, though Groening’s response of, “You’ll have to find another panel at Comic Con that will take her,” was nicely put.